Two Speeds of EAM – A Dynamic Capabilities Perspective

We discuss how enterprise architecture management (EAM) supports
different types of enterprise transformation (ET), namely planned,
proactive transformation on the one hand and emergent, reactive
transformation on the other hand. We first conceptualize EAM as a
dynamic capability to access the rich literature of the dynamic
capabilities framework. Based on these theoretical foundations and
observations from two case studies, we find that EAM can be
configured both as a planned, structured capability to support
proactive ET, as well as an improvisational, simple capability to
support reactive ET under time pressure. We argue that an enterprise
can simultaneously deploy both sets of EAM capabilities by
identifying the core elements of EAM that are required for both
capabilities as well as certain capability-specific extensions. We
finally discuss governance and feedback mechanisms that help to
balance the goals of flexibility and agility associated with dynamic
and improvisational capabilities, respectively.